Fall 2024

Digital models of the crust to understand the Earth’s past and present

Daven Quinn, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Macrostrat is a geological data platform that integrates stratigraphic columns and geologic maps into a digital description of the crustal rock record. It comprises thousands of stratigraphic columns and 300+ geologic maps, correlated into an integrated, web-accessible dataset. Combined, map and column information create a spatial and temporal “scaffold” that can organize and contextualize information about the rock record. Macrostrat columns can represent stratigraphy at any scale, from regional summaries to single core logs, and can translate between physical and time-stratigraphic representations of the rock record. This capability is particularly powerful when combined with proxy data (e.g., geochemistry, fossils, and paleoenvironmental proxies). Macrostrat exposes a modern, openly accessible software interface (API) that facilitates a range of community uses, including the Rockd mobile app. In this talk, we discuss how digitally integrated stratigraphic columns can automate efforts to standardize proxy records to common representations of geologic time. We further examine how such efforts may lead towards integrative digital models of the crust, and how such models would contribute to geological research if realized.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

What does the 100-year flood hazard map mean? Uncertainties with the approach and temporal evolution of events

Sara Santamaria-Aguilar, University of Central Florida

Flood hazard maps are an essential tool for cities and communities worldwide and are used for a variety of purposes such as city planning, insurance and emergency management. Flooding rarely occurs from a single water source (e.g. storm surge, tides, rain and river discharge) and commonly arise from a combination of them, the so-called compound events. Thus, assessing flooding from compound events has become essential to inform decision-makers as these events can exacerbate flood impacts compared to single-driver events and may require different adaptation strategies. There is no standard approach to assess compound flood hazard and uncertainties and differences between approaches are not well understood. In this talk, I will provide a broad introduction about compound events and the main approaches used to assess compound flood hazards. I will show differences in compound flood hazards depending on the approach used for a case study in a city in New Jersey and discuss potential implications.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Coastal wetland hydrology under climate change: dynamics, consequences, and eco-geomorphologic feedbacks

Yu Zhang, Los Alamos National Lab

Coastal wetlands, some of the Earth's most valuable ecosystems, face unprecedented threats due to the accelerating impacts of climate change—sea-level rise, saltwater intrusion, hurricanes, and storm surges. These forces are fundamentally altering the ecosystem functions, threatening their survival. Will these ecosystems adapt and persist, or are they doomed to disappear? In this talk, Dr. Yu Zhang explores this critical question through an integrated hydrologic and eco-geomorphologic lens. By examining the dynamic interactions between water, vegetation, and landforms, Dr. Zhang's research offers new insights into the potential futures of coastal wetlands and the intricate feedbacks that may shape their resilience in the face of changing climates.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Assessing Millennial, Centennial, and Decadal Sea-Level Changes in China: Is it Unprecedented Now?

Yucheng Lin, Rutgers University

The coastline of China, home to over 300 million residents, is among the most densely populated regions in the world. Understanding the mechanisms driving sea-level evolution from the geological past to the modern era is essential for evaluating sea-level variability, quantifying the potential human impact on sea-level changes, and informing future coastal infrastructure planning. In this talk, I will discuss the use of geological records to reconstruct the drivers of past sea-level changes. These reconstructions will be compared with modern instrumental records to determine whether recent sea-level changes fall within the bounds of natural variability or are indeed unprecedented.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Operation And Management Of A Modern Park And Recreation System

Christopher Sullivan, County of Passaic, Department of Parks and Recreation

The talk will focus on the various operational divisions which comprise most park and recreation agencies and how they work together to provide a modern park and recreation system to visitors, along with the common management challenges which face park and recreation agencies. On average, the Passaic County Department of Parks and Recreation employs 75 permanent employees and 113 seasonal. The department provides various recreation and environmental education activities throughout the year for all age levels, including a comprehensive K-5 elementary school based environmental education program which educates approximately 1,200 children per year and is available to all public and private schools within Passaic County, including all county based home school groups

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Anthropogenic Impacts on Aquatic Organisms

Alexis Khursigara, Montclair State University

Aquatic environments are often dynamic, experiencing shifts in a multitude of anthropogenic stressors related to climate change and contaminant loads. Aquatic organisms, such as fish and invertebrates, must cope with these changes that can be rapid or gradual, acute or chronic, and often co-occurring. Understanding how well aquatic organisms tolerate these shifts is imperative for management practices. In this presentation, Dr. Khursigara will discuss how different anthropogenic stressors alter the physiology and behavior of multiple fish and aquatic invertebrate species.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Tropical Hydrology and Critical Infrastructure in the Caribbean: The Impact of the PRWRERI

Walter F. Silva, University of Puerto Rico

The Caribbean region is prone to natural hazards including hurricanes, floods, landslides and droughts. These natural phenomena carries impacts in the society, the infrastructure and the economy of this region. Puerto Rico was impacted by two major destructive hurricanes in 2017 (Hurricane Maria) and in 2022 (Hurricane Fiona). The consequences are still seen, and recovery is undergoing Rural communities struggle to maintain essential services operating 24/7; however, there is much to be done to have robust and resilient communities in Puerto Rico. Efforts to increase resilience and reduce risk are performed by several groups, including a collaborative project between Montclair State University and the University of Puerto Rico.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Incorporating ecosystem information into the federal fisheries management process

Adelle Molina, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center

The goal of fisheries management is to maintain sustainable fisheries and preserve their value. Fisheries management councils set fishing rules and regulations based on scientific advice in the form of a stock assessment. Stock assessments collect and analyze data, produce reports on the condition or status of an exploited stock, and estimate sustainable yield. Stock assessment scientists use analytical approaches and quantitative methods to develop stock assessment models that describe the population dynamics of a stock. Traditionally, stock assessments have not accounted for either ecological interactions, such as predation, or the environment. In this presentation, I will briefly describe the structure of federal fisheries management in the northeast US, which includes both the Mid-Atlantic and New England. Then I will talk about something called an Ecosystem and Socioeconomic Profile (ESP), which is both a process and a product created as part of an ongoing, national scale effort to include ecosystem information in fisheries management. I will highlight my current work with the Atlantic herring and will discuss past successes and remaining challenges in using the ESP to incorporate ecosystem considerations into the stock assessment process.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Estimating subsidence, sedimentation and elevation change in coastal Bangladesh using InSAR and surface measurements

Michael S. Steckler, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Coastal regions are vulnerable to rising seas, increasing storm magnitude, and decimation of ecologically-fragile areas. Deltas are particularly sensitive to the balance between sea-level rise, tidal amplification, land subsidence, and organic and inorganic sedimentation that determine surface elevation. Bangladesh and the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta have been highlighted as being at risk from sea-level rise. Integrating measurements from different methods can provide a more complete understanding of factors controlling spatially and temporally varying subsidence rates. We have determined subsidence, elevation change and/or sedimentation rates from a suite of different methods in coastal Bangladesh (e.g., stratigraphic wells, historic buildings, vertical strainmeters, RSET-MH, continuous GNSS, and a campaign GNSS resurvey of geodetic monuments). We obtain varied rates as each type of measurement provides an estimate relative to a different datum, with variation across four dimensions (areal, depth, and temporal). Thus, measurements of land subsidence are like the fable of the blind men examining an elephant, where each system measures only part of the story. We attribute the spatial differences to lithology, edaphic effects, and Holocene sediment thickness. Furthermore, we find that subsidence rates in areas of active sedimentation, such as rice fields and mangrove forests, are greater than buildings and structures with deep foundations. To supplement these surface change point measurements and explore variations at greater resolution, we process datasets of the Sentinel-1 satellite and derive a high-resolution InSAR velocity field over coastal Bangladesh, sufficient to resolve villages versus fields. Our results show consistency between InSAR, campaign GNSS, and RSET measurements, and confirm the importance of the surface landscape dynamics as observed by these measurements.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Sustainability, AI, and Teamwork: Moving AI from just a tool to a concerned partner

Russell McMahon, University of Cincinnati

Today’s technical problems have been magnified by both the volume of data collected and analyzed and the speed at which it is processed. Human beings cannot possibly understand all the implications of this data. Artificial intelligence (AI) does have the ability to shift through the data, but can it help a human makes sense of it all and can AI offer a viable solution. This presentation is designed to raise awareness of AI as a potential teammate and questions that need to be explored if AI-human teams are to be successful in general and even more so in challenging situations.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Should we stay or should we leave? Multi-objective tradeoffs in identifying robust beach nourishment and managed retreat

Prabhat Hegde, Dartmouth University

In some low-lying coastal areas around the world, decision-makers are beginning to consider “managed retreat” of human populations to adapt to sea-level rise. One of the main challenges in designing a managed retreat strategy is determining when to trigger retreat. Decision-makers lack tools and scientific understanding to evaluate whether the benefits of interim response strategies, like beach nourishment, outweigh the costs of waiting longer to trigger retreat.

In this talk, I will contextualize the coastal beach nourishment problem within the umbrella of decision analyses frameworks for climate change adaptation. I will demonstrate how considerations of uncertainty and multiple objectives improve upon existing decision-making practices, drastically changing expected outcomes and the recommended timing of retreat.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Promoting Public Recreation while Mitigating Environmental Impacts - Creating a Morris County Shared Use Path

Danielle Malavarca, County of Morris, Department of Public Works

Old railroad lines can make ideal recreational pathways for various users while promoting connectivity, community engagement, and physical exercise. When NYS&W Railroad offered a section of abandoned line between the Townships of Wayne and Pequannock, New Jersey to be transformed into a five-mile paved trail, Morris County agreed. However, constructing a shared use path requires much more than just removing rail and laying asphalt; numerous engineering challenges included the construction of a 2,150’ elevated trail and a new bridge through the bed of Glacial Lake Passaic, as well as the rehabilitation of a 1915 3-span rail bridge over the Pompton River. The mitigation of adverse environmental impacts governed much of the design and construction, well beyond just the occasional flooding.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Following the Science: Monitoring and Natural Resource Management in the National Park Service

Brian Mitchell, National Park Service

The National Park Service “preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System”. How does the agency know the condition of its natural resources, and what does it mean to preserve them “unimpaired” when human activities are increasingly impacting the natural world? Dr. Mitchell will provide an overview of natural resource monitoring in the National Park Service and describe some frameworks the agency is using to evaluate and manage natural resources through climate change and other human impacts. A case study about forest resilience in northeastern parks will highlight how the National Park Service is working to manage this fundamental system.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM